Raising $ for Athletic Programs

We all know the fun parts of coaching.  The X’s and O’s, drills, game night, building relationships etc…. It is easy to forget that every athletic program in the world requires funding in order to operate.  nothing will crash a program quicker than a lack of funding.  We need to remember that your athletic program; be it football, basketball or any other sport is also a business.   That business is sales.  Period.  You have to sell the program to players, to parents, to the community, to the faculty, to the administrators and yes.  You must sell your program to those who would donate, invest and purchase products offered by your program.  If you are the head coach of a program, then you are also the CEO of your business. There is simply no way around this.

So knowing this, lets talk about the one thing coaches seem to dislike more than picture day…. FUNDRAISERS.  You cannot operate a program without them, so get that out of your head now.  Your attitude in the application of fundraisers will determine how much money your program can raise.  Treat it with the same passion as you have for drills and games and you will raise a lot more than if you treat it with disdain.  Its like anything else in life, you get out what you put in.

Even if we don’t outwardly acknowledge it, we understand its importance.  So lets focus on some ways to make $$$ for the program.  A really easy way what I call the Sponsorship Program, the link below will take you to a google form for you to down load and make your own:

SponsorshipProgram 

The first part of the program works by selling advertising space.  Many programs do this.  You will sell banners to hang around the field as advertisements that companies can purchase.  Here is a very valuable selling point, if you have access to a fence that faces out tot he main road people drive on… then that is prime time real estate! It is a very high traffic area and a very easy sell.  There is a school in Brevard County FL that routinely raises over $15,000 a year just doing this!

The second part of the program is touchdown and first down sponsorship.  Vendors can choose to sponsor a First down.  For example, a sponsor that I used one time was Buffalo Wild Wings.   Every time we got a first down, the announcer would say “That’s another Buffalo Wild Wings FIRST DOWN!” and then during the time outs, the announcer would do a 10 second plug for the various specials they had going on.

The phone is your greatest tool for doing this, you will have to cold call business or if you are the personable type, walk in face to face to sell your program.  Get your staff to help with this too and use players as well once or twice a year to go out business to business (under supervision of course).  when offering the sponsorship program always offer a choice of a simple donation as well. You would be surprised at how many businesses are more than willing to donate a monetary amount to give back to the schools in their community. (If you would like a script to use for doing this, email me or DM me on twitter here @thecoachvogt)

Other options you have are using outside fundraising vendors to help you push a product.   Typically, I prefer to stay in house as I like to keep all profits made for the program… but that said.  There is one company comprised of former athletes and coaches that is a major exception.  They will raise more funds than any other vendor I’ve seen, and do it by a large margin.  Enter, ADRENALINE FUNDRAISING!

They help guide you and your players in a step by step fundraising protocol that just works.  All you have to do is get on any social media platform and search ADRENALINE, and you will see countless programs raising over $25,000 dollars on a SINGLE FUNDRAISER! That is extremely impressive.  No matter how you slice it, that is a lump of cash that can do a whole lot of things for an athletic program.

They provide incentive for your players to produce,  such as: hoodies, shirts and compression attire.  They provide structure and demonstrate the “why” it is important to be a producer.  Take it from ADRENALINE rep, Scott McMaster:

“A couple things that we love to see is just how fundraising is relateable to life and the sport.  Men were built to be providers and for some men this is their first “practice” at providing.  The way we see fundraising is it’s all about effort and mentality.  Effort is on the kids and mentality is on the coaches.  The years kids put forth good effort in card sales those same kids put forth good effort on the field and vice versa.  We run a pretty consistent program and a lot of my coaches know how their season is going to go based off their players effort in the sale.  On the coaches side, the coaches that make this important crush it.  The coaches that get up there and say they hate fundraising usually don’t do well.

Do you want a company that’s in your corner? A company that’s compensated based on how much is raised so our reps are always thinking about how you can raise more money? We view it as being an additional member of your staff.  Similar to a D-line coach or a running backs coach.  We just do that for fundraising! We are YOUR Funding position coach!”   -Scott McMaster.

The best part about ADRENALINE… you and your players DO NOT have to handle cash.  It is all tracked digitally!  Offering products from Discount cards, tumblers and food to a simple donation app that can be sent via text or social media.  They really do make it easy.  A product list can be seen here: ADRENALINE PRODUCTS

 

CLOSING

Say what you want about any athletic program and how to successfully run one.  The underlying truth cannot be denied no matter how much one may try.  You are in a sales business, as a head coach you are the President and CEO.  You don’t every want to be on the other side of the table with administration when they start asking about funding issues.  There is one thing that will get a coach canned faster than losing or doing something knuckleheadish… and that’s MONEY.  Fortunately, if you understand that any athletic program is a also a business, you will always be fine!

Until Next time,

-Coach Vogt

Preparing for Your Head Coach Interview! P.1 – The Resume & Letter of Intent

You wake up in the mornings and you have the “itch”.   You know what it means.  You have been thinking about it for a long time.  Most of think about it for years before we the “itch”.   You’ve put in your time.  You have been an assistant, a coordinator and have experienced success.  You know how important building relationships in a program is, and you may not be 100% “ready” (you never will be btw), but you have now decided that it is time to take the next step!  You are going to start applying for Head Football Coach positions at the end of the season.   Congratulations!  This is a big career step and just putting yourself out there for consideration is a big move.

If you are going to do this you need to understand you will have to apply at a A LOT of schools.  Like many jobs, you will have to deal the “good ol boys” that have connections getting slipped into spots.  Most of the “good” jobs have the coach they want in mind before they let the current coach go.  Some schools wont even take applications, they will reach out to the coaches they want.   But don not be discouraged!  That will be you one day!  But for now, you will have to play the numbers game.  Remember, your new, and even if you are not, somebody out there will always be better on paper than you somewhere.  That’s just the name of the game.  What you need to do is:

• apply at several spots, the more interviews you get the better
• be aware that you DON’T have to take a job if they offer
  • the right job is better than A job
• develop a plan of attack

This is going to be a three part series dedicated to the process of attaining the position of Head Football Coach:

1. The Resume and Letter of Intent
2. The Portfolio and Interview
3. The Follow up and the Finalist Interviews

THE RESUME

What it Should Not Be

It is always easier to start with what to avoid with things like this.  Your resume should NOT do the following things:

• Be a comprehensive life/career documentary
• just a list of places that you have worked
• be more than two pages long
• be flashy and colorful
  • this is hard to read and if information is hard to read it gets thrown out
• have a lengthy objective
• list your athletic accomplishments as a player other than where you played
  • no one cares you made 12 tackles in a championship game except you

What it Should Be

The first thing you must remember is the people selecting candidates for interviews are reading a whole lot of material from many different coaches wanting that spot.  Sometimes they get hundreds of applicants that they must go through.  If your resume is too flashy or hard to read it gets thrown out.  If it is too long… they wont read past the first page or too anyways. Here is what it should be

• Simple, Clear and Easy to read
• use bullet points
• ideally only one page long, two pages at maximum
• clearly show how you IMPROVED the team from when you arrived to the current point in time
  • EX:  -Improved points per game from 17.5 to 28
  • Ex: -Decreased academically ineligible players from 7 to 0 in one semester
• Structured just like this from top to bottom:
  • easy to read name, email, phone number with a bold line separating this from the body of the resume
  • objective that says exactly this:
    • To Obtain the Position of Head Football Coach at _________ High School
      • NOTHING MORE
  • education, only list the following
    • where you went to school, what your degree is in, when you graduated
      • NOTHING MORE
  • Summary – this is just list of bullet pointed “Proven” abilities
    • Ex: -Effectively increasing student-athlete academic performance via…. yada yada, (you get it I hope)
  • Coaching Experience
    • each TITLE gets a section, NOT each job
      • head coach, OC, DC, position coach, etc…
  • Teaching Experience
    • one section, brief, that shows how you improved students, you don’t need to list every school you taught at
      • remember, this is an interview for Head Coach, the teaching part will come AFTER they decide they like you
      • my coaching resume and teaching resume are two separate documents
  • Certifications
    • just a list of what your certified to teach, they only care about where they could put you if hired

THE LETTER of INTENT

Often call the “cover letter”  the letter of intent declares that you are intending to obtain the open position at their school.   Again, lets start off with what it shouldn’t be.

What It Shouldn’t Be

• a declaration of your life accomplishments
• dedication to your family
  • look, nobody is saying you shouldn’t be proud of your family, but when you put it in your LOI, it distracts from your purpose
• like your resume, it should not be a list of every career stop you ever made
• sent as an attachment
  • send it as the body of your email and save the resume, portfolio and references for the attachments
• too long
  • it needs to use the “miniskirt” rule
    • long enough to cover the important parts, but short enough to keep their interest

What it Should Be

As stated earlier, you must remember that the selection committee is getting hundreds of emails.  Yours needs to stand out, so your letter of intent will be the body of the email. The subject of your email will be “Head Coach Position”.  Your LOI should”

• be like your resume and clearly show how you IMPROVED the team from point when you arrived to the current point in time
  • in your LOI these statements are more of general whole because it will be written in proper format instead of bullet points
• should clearly state your interest in said school and why
• should be structured like this
  • introduction
  • what you bring to the table
  • proof of what you bring to the table (bullet 1)
  • restatement of what you bring to the table
  • closing statements
• the structure should flow and be easy to read
• make sure you state the beliefs you have on education and the impact you can have on it with football being the driving tool

CLOSING

I hope this is a nice little guide for anybody wishing to start the process of preparing for a head coach position!  Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3 which will all come before the end of August!

If you are looking for a jump start, I do offer a HC Interview Package for purchase.  It is 11 total documents, Ill send it in an emailed zip file. Then we can schedule a phone call and I will teach you how to use it and what to do with it before an interview. How to use it in an interview to keep the panel on your plan, not theirs. The portfolio itself is 35 page portfolio that I built over the past 6 years. It outlines your plan as a head coach and covers Mission Statement to fundraising plans. Lifting plans. Philosophy for O/D and ST. Academics. Discipline policy. Every possible question an interview panel could ask is covered. It makes you look extremely organized and you can anticipate questions coming before they are asked. Ability for full customization to you.

The package includes:

• Portfolio
• Sample Resume
• Sample Letter of Intent
• Entry Plan
• Off Season Plan for Success
• Academic Eligibility Tracker
• and more

DM me on Twitter or Email me for more information

10 Ways to Sell the Wing-T

There is no denying the success of the wing-T offense.  It has perforated into all levels and all offensive styles today as described in a previous article (A Legend of the Fall).  However, choosing to run this system in today’s age of flashy spread schemes does come with a few speed bumps that you must overcome.  This is mainly due to stake holders like parents, boosters and players simply not understanding the offense, as all they see on tv is what they want to do.  That’s not just football, that is life in America.  The masses tend to emulate what they see on tv and other media outlets.  But for those of us who know and understand the offense, we know that it is simply the most cost effective and adaptable system available.  Hence, the wide spread use of its concepts from youth leagues to the NFL.  This article will give you 10 easy ways to help sell the wing-T offense to your players, parents and other stakeholders in your program.

1. The ball is spread to multiple playersWhen run correctly, this is a true spread the ball around offense. At minimum it is a 3 back offense, 4 if you incorporate the QB in the run game!  Due to the deception and ball hiding nature of the offense you don’t need a dominant player at WR, QB or RB, (of course it always helps when you got one lol…) but, you can spread the ball around while faking it to the other players, forcing the defense to spread itself thin to account for multiple ball carriers and to play assignment football or they risk following the wrong player!  As far as who is getting the rock, it is hard to beat the true balance of the wing-T offense.  Use this when selling to your athletes.
2. History of successHistory is on the side of the T based offenses. Most other offense produce “flash in the pan” success.  They will be good for a year, two years, and then back to obscurity. Especially with spread teams!  If they can’t recruit a DUDE at QB every year… its hard for them to stay consistent. While the teams that run a T based offense are consistently good, regardless of talent levels.  I don’t need to convince you of this, simply think of the successful teams in your state, or district.  Good chance the ones with sustained success are ones basing out of T concepts.  On top of that, its very easy to call plays in the system.  I detail that HERE. Use these things when selling the wing-T to your coaching staff, boosters and AD.
3. If you can play, they will come“You won’t get recruited by a college in a wing-T offense” what a completely ASININE statement! Yet I have heard it multiple times!  This tends to be a thing repeated by players as why they would transfer…. Lets be real about this… this is from ignorant adults, not kids.  The ranks of college and the NFL are FULL of athletes that played in the wing-T or a derivative.  Hell, you still see the Wing-T in the NCAA and NFL today!  One simply needs to show this to the kids and parents with real statistics to squelch this silly rumor. 9 times out 10 this is told to players and parents by “street gurus” that have an investment in a rival school.  Like most things in life, look at the motives behind what somebody says and the light will shine on their true intentions.  Fact: it does not matter where you play ball at… if you are good enough, the recruiters will come.
4. VersatilitySomething that I believe is unique to the wing-T offense is its versatility! There are more ways to incorporate wing-T concepts than you could ever do in a season.  Double options, triple options, shot gun, pistol, gun option.  People are even running the wing-T out of 4 wide personnel groupings.  It is truly adaptable to any skill set your players may or may not have!  This is reflective of the wing-T’s pathogen like infection of every offensive system you see today! This is also why you will see sustained success with wing-T teams. Target your coaching staff and AD with this one.
5. Change NamesSimple word change propaganda goes a LONG way. Case and point:  in the 1980’s the Afghanistan militants were fighting against communist Russia and the USA called them “Freedom Fighters” and even supplied weapons and training.  Fast forward to the 2000’s…. and well, we wont get into all that, but you get the idea.  What I’m saying is… change the terminology to pander to the minds of your athletes!  Call your base wing-T formation “Spread rt” and “Spread lt”!  instead of calling the Fullback a Fullback, call him a B back… or even better, call him a Tailback! Instead of calling the wings, wingbacks… call them Slots!  You know they are wings… but that simple title change goes a long way.
6. It’s a Team first offenseThis is the ULTIMATE team offense. Your Backfield and WRs will be selfless and block or fake on play they don’t get the ball. Which will help them, when they do get the ball.  Your skill guys know that if they block hard, or fake with conviction, the same will happen for them when they get the ball.  This is self-promoting!  This happens on its own with just some guidance from the coaching staff.  Everybody knows they will get the ball, everybody is involved in the game.  There is no need for that one WR that gets the ball every other play.  It is a true team system, that helps lead to a IDENTITY.
7. It makes the defense tougher
8. 7. There is simply no arguing here. This type of offense is down hill and physical with high frequency, further building the team IDENITY. This forces the defense to develop an edge and a hardness that they simply cannot get by lining up in space every snap and playing tackle 7on7. This tends to ruffle feathers when I say this to folks… but facts are facts.  Furthermore, the nature of the offense means you can run the clock and have your “better” athletes play defense!  Your DC will be your new best friend.
9. It’s DifferentBeing a wing-T offense you will be different. You will be something that, with a good chance nobody else you play is!  This will cause your opponents to have issues defending you.  They will be used to playing against 4 wide and shotgun 20 personnel all season long, and in practice against themselves all preseason and spring.  They will only have week to get ready for your formations and deceptive ground and pound offense.  Your players will also discovery that they are different, than anyone they play against.  This further leads to building an IDENTITY!
10. Angles and NumbersThe use of angles may be the single biggest advantage of this offense! Your blockers, OL or Skills, will never have to drive a defender backwards, they will always have an angle to their blocks. This allows you to use smaller or less athletic linemen and still be successful.  The entire system is based on taking what the defense is not defending and getting there with as much speed and simplicity as possible.  The formations of the offense allow for extra run gaps to be created while still posing a vertical passing threat.  This creates a natural conundrum for the defense. They can load the box and expose themselves to the Play Action game, they can defend the edges and give up the quick hitting inside game.
11. IdentityDifferent, hard nosed, team first. This all leads to strong sense of identity for your players.  You will watch your players start to take pride in the fact that they run this offense.  As somebody who has run multiple offensive schemes, I have not seen this happen with other offenses.  This sense of identity is self-feeding into the team first, hard nose nature of the system.  But don’t take my word for it!  Watch this video and then try and tell me these kids (and Coaches!) being interviewed don’t have a strong sense of IDENTITY:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOrwXVlpFfU

Bonus: It’s Fun!  Fun to call plays, fun to watch on film. Fun to coach. And ive NEVER had an offensive lineman that did not LOVE the offense.  OL enjoys the offense…. Nuff Said.

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10 More Signs, You Might Be a Football Coach!

As a follow up to “10 Signs You Might Be a Football Coach” here are 10 more signs, you might be a football coach!

You might be a football coach if…..

1. You STILL can’t get rid of those little rubber beads, you might be a football coach!
2. You get more texts and calls in one weekend during the season than all weekdays combined; you might be a football coach!
3. If you have taken multiple rides on a yellow bus where you can’t shake the feeling you forgot something, you might be a football coach!
4. You would be rich if you had $1 every time you heard “I got my guy” on the sideline, you might be a football coach!
5. You finally get the HC to call that play you’ve been asking for all game and it works: you might be a football coach!
6. You finally get the HC to call that play and it fails miserably: you might be a football coach!
7. If you get a new job and you have to eliminate more than half your wardrobe, you might be a football coach!
8. If you’ve felt the chill in the air when a Wing-T guy and Spread guy enter the same room, you might be a football coach!
9. When you talk about your plan for Friday with your significant other, she looks at you like your speaking a foreign language, you might be a football coach!
10. You know what IV, ML, OV, IZ, WZ, RPO, LOS, EMOLS, PK, PAP, all mean, you might be a football coach!

BONUS: You know that feeling when a player comes to tell you that he got a scholarship offer, you might be a football coach!

The Power of Social Media for Coaches

The power of social media has made itself widely apparent.  Nobody can deny that platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and linked in have an ability to influence and connect the population like never before in human history.  However, one must be careful using it.  Social media is an extremely sharp double-edged sword.  It can be an unmatched power tool for networking and marketing, but it can also drag you into being unproductive and even depression! It’s no secret that social media creators engineered it to be addictive, they openly admit this.  But if you can mitigate the negatives, you have an unrivaled tool at your disposal for connecting to other people in your profession, keeping tabs on your players, students or employees and driving your own marketing FOR FREE!  So how can utilize the power of social media for our own benefits?  This article will focus on how to establish a following and add contributions of worth to the world of social media with a focus on Twitter as the network of choice. The goal is never more followers or views, it is creating something worth sharing, and creating new connections. Do that and rest will take care of itself.  Let’s take a look at how we can accomplish this.

PRODUCING CONTENT

When trying to grow a following and establish a network, producing content should be your first priority.  What do you contribute to the network you are trying to establish? Why should people follow you?  This doesn’t mean that you need to go out and start a blog or website (though it doesn’t hurt), but it does mean that what you post matters.  Simply retweeting everything and never posting your own content will garner very small results if any.  Original posts will always out perform retweets.  But there is more to it than that.  Your posts must have a purpose.  They must do one of the following: share information, state a “strong” opinion or maybe a not so popular fact (without being offensive), ask an open-ended question or comment on a trending topic.  Of all of these, sharing information will get you the most results.  Especially if it is a topic that is A) trending or B) a subject area you have a lot of knowledge in.  Being professionals, specifically coaches for most of you reading this article, it is also a big help to keep your posts focused on your primary niche.  This is your passion live your passion, put out posts that show this.  If you can tie your content into a trending topic, it is even better!  As coaches we ALL have content to produce.  Everybody in this profession has a perspective to share and angle to give, it’s part of what makes this profession so great.  And social media has provided ways for us to network and “daily clinic” and learn more, at a faster rate than ever in the profession of coaching!  I’m not the only coach who feels this way I’m sure.

“Social Media has opened up a daily coaches clinic each day! Being able to network with coaches around the world at anytime is amazing. If I was a young and up and coming coach I will take notes all day long from the amazing coaches that use social media to learn and help other coaches grow in our profession. I personally have learned and built so many great relationships with coaches that I wouldn’t have it wasn’t for social media. — But to me it’s more about friendship’s and respect that you earn from these great men who have taken the oath to mentor to young men and build character and relationships..”

Well put from a coach I have been lucky enough to connect with via twitter @slade248 Coach Singleton.  Make sure you check out his “More with Four” system!

“Social media has changed the complexion of coaching in numerous ways. For me personally, I have made great connections, written articles, and spoken for online clinics. Young coaches trying to make it have a voice. Veteran coaches who have much to offer can contribute. All coaches can enjoy the benefits. The chats have really been a neat twist as well. Social media is the new way to get information out there and while good ole fashioned face to face meetings and clinics still have their place, those conversations are never-ending with social media.”

As @coach_harvey18 Adam Harvey has put wonderfully, the open-ended conversation never really has to end with social media you’ve got a new soundboard for ideas and feedback, A great place for growth for all coaches. He is also a great reference in our next topic if you are a young coach looking for someone to emulate as far as coaching posts, he utilizes hash tags very well along with trending topics.

You also need to be sure to post content consistently and frequently.  Your followers will quit visiting your page if you are not doing this.  If time management is an issue because of work, or just life in general, then use an app like Hootsuite.  Apps like these allow you to preschedule posts ahead of time so it looks like your very active.  In reality you just managed your time wisely and scheduled your tweets to be released at certain times.  Usually I do this the night before.

TRENDING TOPICS

When producing content, you should try to somehow tie it into trending topics.  You can get a general idea of what’s trending by tapping the little magnifying glass in your twitter app.  It will show you what’s “hot” for that period of time.  You can also tap the “trending for me” tab to see what your followers are into for that moment.  This is particularly useful when your following begins to grow.  You could also, simply ask.  Ask your followers what they want to see more of in general about a subject or from you specifically and tag them into the question as well.  If they are tagged, they are more likely to share the post with their followers as well. It is also very easy to tell if you have hit a trending topic or started one. The post will garner a lot of immediate action.  If it doesn’t… well it will disappear from timelines all together, but we will touch on that a little later in the article.

USING THE #

The almighty hashtag is probably the most useful part of social media as far as connecting to new people to network with goes.   By using hashtags, you can connect with people of similar interests, connect your content to trending topics, discover new people to network with and follow, as well as gain new followers yourself.  The football coaching sect of twitter may have perfected the use of hashtags for this purpose.  Several coaches are utilizing #chats to connect and network with coaches across the world to share ideas and provide each other with information and an extended network.  Here are some great #chats to check out ASAP:

#hogfbchat (probably the best one)

#33stackchat

#txhsfbchat

#flhsfbchat

#425chat

There are others but as far as at the time of this article being written, those are the hottest ones tied to coaching.  You can also add a hashtag to any of your own content so it will appear on the time line for that hashtag.  For example:  you could post a philosophical opinion or quote, and use #wednesdaywisdom to connect it with any other person on the planet that uses that same hashtag.

ALGORITHMS

Algorithms are used to decide what should be displayed on the different personal feeds out there.  You might choose to see your feed in a “most recent” display, but that does not mean that you will see everything posted.  The more “trend” a post has, the more likely it is to show up on the feeds of your followers.  Algorithms are constantly changing based on whatever the whim of the network programmers may or may not be.  Trying to know exactly what they are from day to day is a futile effort.  If you can understand them well enough to manipulate your posts to fit in with certain criteria you can gain traction quickly on a post. Now, all that said, here are some things that have tended to hold true and have remained relatively static over time.

Comments need 4 or more words to produce more engagement.

If you have no engagement on a post in 5 minutes of posting it, it will disappear from feeds. The internet is vast with so much content being added every second you have a very small window to get in if you want something to turn from a regular post to trending or even viral.

Comments have higher value than likes.

Retweets increase likely hood of comments seen by others, more audience engagement.

The best times to post are 10am, 1pm – 2pm, 5pm and 8pm, days of the week matter too, Monday night is better than Monday morning, Tuesday/ Wednesday midday are ideal, and Thursday/ Friday early morning are usually pretty good as well.

Since we are talking twitter and football is our topic of choice: planning posts and content releases around major events is no accident, when we’ve done things like reducing the book cost and doing it over the holidays or on big game days is by design.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE!

When you create content for social media, you are publicly putting yourself, your ideas, and your creativity out there. Make sure it is worth sharing, writing, or vlogging about.  You want followers to share and comment on your post.  Your posts should be geared towards starting a conversation and interaction.  Open ended questions tend to produce a lot of engagement.  Ask a question that has more than one answer based of viewer perspective and tag in some followers to entice sharing and commenting.  Original content will always outshine something you retweeted from somebody else.  Remember, you want to produce things that make you worth following. What are YOU contributing? That’s what people want to see and share.  Surveys and asking for perspective will usually encourage engagement as well.  Thanking followers and showing gratitude for anything in posts will also encourage engagement.  Using visuals to help “grab attention” is a big time aid in audience engagement!  Use things like pictures, GIF’s and videos frequently. Humans are visual creatures, having media attached to your post will pull eye focus away from the general feed and onto YOUR individual post.

THINGS TO AVOID

We have been covering things to do for building your social media brand, but we also need to cover what you should not do.  Here are things that you should avoid doing when creating your content:

Vulgarity

Religion and Politics (posting on your faith or belief is OK, but refrain from engaging in any religious or political debates as it only tends to lead into nasty arguments and name calling)

Graphic Images

You also need to be aware of the fact that everything you have ever hit the like button on can be seen.  It is public and anyone can see anything that you have liked.  It does not matter what you say, or what “disclaimer” you put in your headline.  If you like something on social media, YOU ARE ENDORSING IT!  That cannot be over stated, hit the like button with discretion.

“Twitter has definitely helped in building our brand as offensive line coaches and football coaches in general. It has influenced me into being a better coach and person as well. As we tell our student-athletes, you never know who is watching you and that goes for us too. You never know who is reading your Twitter feed and making mental notes. As far as networking, this has opened me up to so many coaches and friends in the past few years. I value this platform much more than anything else.”

Wise words from the godfather of @hogfbchat; @coachshiffman. Thank you for your input on social media and I couldn’t have put it better myself. Too many times we see likes or comments from kids and wonder why put that out there that’s not a good look. Adults do it too and it looks a thousand times worse. So, mind your likes and posts. Keep it positive, keep it clean and keep it fun.

THE “HATERS”

It is inevitable, eventually you will get some “haters”. It’s hard not to get worked up when someone comes after you or your brand that you’ve put lots of time and effort into, but pause before you react. Negativity begets negativity. Rule of thumb for haters, not everyone will like what you put out there. Period, not a grand statement, it is just the way it is. — Thank them for there feedback and move on. You can continue your path to productivity, and potentially make them a fan in the future, how I see it, they are already watching what you do. A hater is just a low key fan, otherwise they wouldn’t pay such close attention to what you’re doing.

Here is something to remember about haters though.  They are simply trying to elicit a response and it is actually helping you out.  Haters are just fans in denial.

GRATITUDE

Always be thankful for the opportunity to meet new people to expand your world from the comfort of your home desktop or while leisurely checking your feed on your cell phone. It takes ten seconds to thank someone for following you (it also starts a new conversation; audience engagement 101) or for sharing some of your content. I’m so thankful every time I have shared something with my community of coaches, and they’ve liked it so much they’ve felt compelled to share it with others, so much so they took time out of there day to write something nice about something I’ve created.

CLOSING

Social media is here to stay, but always evolving.  The platforms may change (RIP myspace) but the social network will never disappear.  Just change face.  You have three options when it comes to dealing with social media.  You can ignore it, get used by it, or you can USE IT!  It is a tool that can greatly help your personal and professional network when used appropriately.  It only makes sense that we as coaches should harness its power to make ourselves and those we influence better.  Would the world be better without social media??? That is another subject entirely, but it is here, here to stay, so we might as well tame it!  Please make sure to follow the coaches that helped contribute to this article, as well as the mastermind behind my social media presence, my wife @karlymarie322.  If I post something on twitter that works… its probably because she told me to! She works very hard to support me and what I’m trying to do, and I am very grateful to have her decide she wanted to be a part of my life forever!

Follow me on twitter here @TheCoachVogt, subscribe to the email list to be notified anytime a new article is posted and if you like to read and learn football, check out these ebooks:

Installing the Wide Zone.   The Speed-T Offense Vol.2